Tiger-class fast attack craft

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Tiger-class vessel S54 Elster
Class overview
Name	Tiger class
Operators	German Navy  Hellenic Navy  Chilean Navy  Egyptian Navy  Border Police of Georgia
Preceded by	Zobel class
Succeeded by	Albatros class
Built	1971–1975
In commission	1972–2002 (Germany)
Completed	20
Lost	1
General characteristics (After last refit)
Type	Fast Attack Craft
Displacement	265 tonnes (261 long tons)
Length	47 m (154 ft 2 in)
Beam	7 m (23 ft)
Draught	2.70 m (8 ft 10 in)
Propulsion	4 MTU MD 16V 538 TB90 turbo diesel engines, 8,800 kW (11,800 hp) total 4 propeller shafts
Speed	36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range	570 nmi (1,060 km) at 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph) 1,600 nmi (3,000 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	30
Sensors and processing systems	SMA 3RM 20 navigation radar Triton G surveillance radar CASTOR II fire-control radar Link 11 communications
Electronic warfare & decoys	Decoy and flare launcher Electronic countermeasures suite
Armament	1 × OTO Melara 76mm gun 1 × Bofors L/70 40mm gun 4 × MM38 Exocet launchers 8 × naval mines The Bofors gun can be replaced with mine laying rails
Notes	The ships have been updated twice (1982–84 and 1990–92), this represents the last update that was performed on all ships.

The Type 148 Tiger-class fast attack craft are a group of missile boats built to a Franco-German design and seeing service in the German Navy. The vessels entered service in the 1970s and served into the early 21st century. While they have been mostly retired from German Navy service, many were transferred to other navies and remained in service longer.

The vessels had been designed by Lürssen of Germany for Israel. They were a modification of the Jaguar-class fast attack craft but armed with the French Exocet missile. They were built mainly in France by Constructions Mécaniques de Normandie in Cherbourg (CMN) for political reasons; twelve were built and completed there, while another eight of the boats were laid down by CMH, but completed by Lürssen.

Their export to Israel was also blocked for political reasons, and the boats were commissioned into the German Navy as the Tiger class. A number of other boats were built by CMN for various navies to the same design, which became known as the La Combattante II type fast attack craft.

The boats were commissioned into the Bundesmarine in the mid-1970s, replacing the Jaguar-class vessels of the 3rd and 5th Squadrons. At first the boats did not receive names, only numbers, but these were introduced later at the insistence of the crews.

The ships served for 30 years, and received major updates in 1982–84 and 1990–92. After decommissioning they were scrapped or sold to different countries. No direct replacements were procured as due to the changed operating conditions the Deutsche Marine has reduced the number of these fast attack boats drastically and procured instead a smaller number of corvettes.

• La Combattante class fast attack craft

• Couhat, Jean Labayle; Baker, A. D. III, eds. (1986). Combat Fleets of the World 1986/87: Their Ships, Aircraft and Armament. Annapolis, Maryland, USA: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-85368-860-5.

• Schnellboote TIGER-Klase – Marine (Official homepage of the German Navy) (in German)
• Warships on the Web
• S46 Fuchs (in German)
• S51 Häher (in German)
• S58 Pinguin (in German)